Ah yes, you are right...now i see what your talking about...once they finally decide on bluray or hd-dvd, then maybe they will begin re-releasing some of the older, non-anamorphic titles.

I own Dark City and can positively vouch for that being anamorphic. Godzilla, Kelly's Heroes, and The Real Cancun are specifically listed as being anamorphic in numerous reviews at credible sites. I'm not certain about Super Mario Bros., IMDb was the only place I could find the DVD specs, and I've never seen the DVD personally. You can check DVD specs at IMDb by clicking on the 'DVD details' link on the movie's main page. Btw, besides DVDTalk, here are some other good places to check out for quality DVD reviews:

DVD Answers
DVD File
DVD Authority
DVD Review
The Cinema Laser
The Digital Bits

^^^^^^^^


Thank you sir! The only problem I've been running into is some sites saying a movie is anamorphic and some saying it isn't. The only way to find out for sure I suppose is by watching the DVD on my HDTV. I'll get around to that.


Most of mine that aren't anamorphic were bargain bin titles so it's not as if American Beauty were non-anamorphic...I'd have to call the studio myself if it were! ;)

With that said, I'm bummed about The Doors being non-anamorphic. I was planning to get the SE of The Great Escape one day anyway. Otherwise, I wish Private Parts and Super Size Me were anamorphic. Although, as I've stated before, non-anamorphic transfers for films in the 1.85:1 ratio don't bother me too much, but films in the scope ratio bother me a great deal (The Edge, The Doors, etc.).

I don't own it, but my information is that Super Mario Bros. is non-anamorphic.

Super Size Me is a strange one indeed. First, because it seemed like Hollywood had ceased making non-anamorphic WS transfers for all new releases, and second, because it inexplicably has the bonus features in anamorphic and not the actual film!

What I hate is when subtitled DVDs are non anamorphic, so I can't zoom. The killer, Hard Boiled, a few Jet Li movies and Yojimbo are all like this.

Super Size Me is a special case. The movie was shot on consumer-grade digital video in 1.78:1 letterbox format. The DV camera that it was shot with added electronic blanking to the top and bottom of the frame for the widescreen ratio. What you see on DVD is all the resolution of the original source. It doesn't get any better than that.

^ I watched Super Size Me on Showtime HD, and although it was definitely not true HD, it definitely looked better than a non-anamorphic DVD....leads me to believe an anamorphic DVD would look a bit better. Heck, Id want an anamorphic DVD for no other reason than I dont have to play with the aspect ratio button on my TV (another reason it always bugs me when trailers and deleted scenes are non-anamorphic letterbox; even if the quality sucks, make it anamorphic....I cant imagine this is a process that takes long at all). The Incredibles DVD set is one of the best ones Ive ever seen...everything is anamorphic, even the 4:3 features, which have pillarboxes for 16:9 but are displayed "cropped" for 4:3 sets.

The Showtime airing was upscaled to HD resolution, which can have some benefits if done well.

There is no point in upscaling a non-anamorphic video source to anamorphic widescreen on DVD, however. Think of people who try to watch it on non-widescreen sets. In their cases, the video is upscaled and then downscaled again (introducing artifacts in both cases) just to wind up back at the original resolution it should have been all along.

It doesn't look very good, I agree, but it was never meant to look very good. Picture quality was not something that Spurlock gave a damn about when making it.

15 out of my 350 movies are non anamorphic (not counting movies that of course have an original full frame aspect ratio). I tried to make an effort a long time ago to not get movies full frame or non anamorphic since I knew someday I would get a widescreen TV (which I now have). Most I knew of like a few OLD titles (when scene selections was still a SPECIAL feature) But some Like Armagedon Criteria and Dirty Dancing and Bugs Life (but I have the CE also and that is).

Not sure if I would upgrade any? You never know.

For the poster above that mentioned Three Amigos as Full Frame only, it is widescreen just not anamorphic, I am watching now as a matter of fact.

I posted my actual list that I have found in the other thread about this so I won't repost it, but I have over 60 DVDs that are non anamorphic. Granted most of those were bought years ago it still is a bit of a bummer.

However, I did sit and watch Young Frankenstein and it wasn't too bad watching it zoomed. I will still work to replace the ones I can, but there are just too many DVDs I can't let go of non anamorphic or not so I will just have to live with it on those. Oddly enough I have noticed my TV auto zooms some of the non anamorphic DVDs. Not sure if it is something encoded in the DVD or what that makes it do that.

I agree the ones that suck the most are the foreign films. You really can't watch most of those zoomed due to the subtitles.

Almost but not all. Some studios (MGM and Warner come to mind) still release 1.66:1 movies without anamorphic enhancement (e.g., a title as recently released as New York, New York). And yes, it has been proved that 1.66:1 movies benefit from being anamorphic.

Here's my hit list:

48 Hrs
The Abyss
Bound
Boys from Brazil
Brazil
Bronx Tale
Coming to America
Crimson Tide
The Doors
Fish Called Wanda
The Game
History of the World: Part 1
Man With Two Brains
Misery
Private Parts
Three Amigos
True Lies
Young Frankenstein

^^^^

True Lies, Misery, The Game and Crimson Tide are anamorphic with nice transfers in other regions. I have them. Go multi-region!

Bronx Tale should be anamorphic since its an old Warner title.

Still trying to find an anamorphic <i>Romy & Michele's High School Reunion.</i> http://smilies.neo101.nl/smilies/739.gif